Final Act Acknowledged
by illegiblewriter
Summary: King Vegeta never spared a life, and never let his feelings show. But now he and Bardock find themselves not in hell, but in Other World. Their final acts in life have been acknowledged, and they have been given one last oportunity to see their sons...
1. Prologue

Final Act Acknowledged 

720 A.D.- the war with the Tuffles begins.

Extracts from the accounts of a Saiyan warrior in the primitive caves of the country of Saiya, from the tribe of Corrn:

_Day One: We have succeeded bringing four of our tribes here. Two more will come tomorrow. Within three days all the tribes of the country Saiya will unite and we will begin to wage our war against the Tuffles. Next week, we begin our attack. Planet Plant will be ours soon._

Day Two: There is some controversy over who will be the leader of the six tribes once the Tuffles are conquered. It is likely that King Celre will rule once this is all over. He comes from the largest of the tribes, and by far one of the most experienced, he is the favorite of the older fighters, and more or less everyone who was once under his leadership. I personally don't approve of him, but nonetheless, if he is to be King, I must keep my thoughts to myself.

_Day Three: King Celre has just spent four hours fighting the leaders of the other three tribes, including my own King, Corrn. Until the two other tribes arrive, he is the leader, and King, but no one dares to call him King of the **Saiyans** just yet. Rumor has it that one of the Kings that is coming tomorrow is as experienced, if not more than King Celre. I have yet to catch his name, but I will soon know. Tomorrow, they will fight for leadership._

_Day Four: Unfortunately, only one of the two missing tribes came today. The people said that the other King, King Vegeta, ran into a group of Tuffles, around 30,000 of them, and his tribe, being the smallest of all six, had no more than twenty-seven odd members to it. King Celre laughed, and said even the wisest of fighters could not contend with 30,000 Tuffles with only twenty-seven men, (to be precise, only sixteen are men, but unlike many other tribes, his women can fight as well. Some of the females are good enough that Primate forbid it, they allow mating because their females will not weaken the bloodline. Who has fighters like that?) Things about the man have been said, some terrible things. They say he is no older than twenty-five, far too young for a King! And above all, they say his **maidservant** is to be his future mate! How absurd! _

_Day Five: Unbelievable! King Vegeta arrived today and quickly disposed of King Celre! He is an expert fighter, never-mind he is even younger than I. Just by looking at the way his Tribes follows his plans, I am sure that we will defeat the Tuffles quickly, and rise to an extraordinary empire! No doubt, he even has a scientist, Bardock, who, given the right equipment, could make us some glorious technology! The boy is only twelve, and still learning, but most everyone is ecstatic to meet with the Arcosians, form nearby Arcos after the war is over. King Vegeta has said that we would need to find other planets if we wanted to continue fighting. I'm not sure what he means, but he and his people seem to know what they are doing, that most everyone trusts him. All are such talented fighters! It will be an honor just to stand next to them in battle! I have not found his young maidservant yet, but no matter, I'm sure she will appear someday._

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The sun rose once again on Plant, however the extremely odd tilt kept it from rising fully, leaving the sky a hashish red-purple. Indeed, the nights were ruby and the morning's violet, but the weary people of the planet never acknowledged the beauty of such a place. The Tuffles kept to their homes, the Saiyans to their caves, and all was never at peace.

But on this particular day, the restlessness of the people stretched beyond ordinary hate for each other. Today the Saiyan tribes planned to attack, and the unsuspecting Tuffles bustled about their cities, unaware of the ten-year war, about to cause their downfall…

"It is impossible for a Saiyan to pretend to be a Tuffle. The shortest of Saiyans would be a full head taller than the tallest of our own!" One of leaders of the Tuffle scientists raged. "It can't be done! Call off the special security from the streets and allow the scouters to hike around the city! No Saiyan could reach the city unnoticed! We must be armed with _weapons_, not those silly spy gadgets!" The man glared at the Head of the ruffles, who, before him had a grand total of thirty-five miniature pieces of technology gathered from the scientist at his right.

"Dr. Granite disagrees." The leader stated calmly, "He says he has heard of one Saiyan female with straight black hair, and only of average _Tuffle_ height! If this woman exists,"

"_If_ she exists! Besides, she's one in _50,000!_ She would not be coming on her own. The Saiyan females don't even fight!" The doctor, Dr. Topaz was his name, argued.

"As much as I hate to say it sir, I must agree with Dr. Topaz, the Saiyan girl is only twenty, and even for one of their males, at that age, she could be handled easily by half of the army in these parts. Forget that she's a _girl, _the Saiyans only use the females to _breed_." The old scientist spat the word out with distaste. Being female fifty years ago in a Tuffle civilization was much like the way it was now in the Saiyan society.

Sighing, the King of the Tuffles gave in. "Fine, we must ignore the young female and watch for their army. No spy from the Saiyans is likely to be sent. Arm the troops; post them all along the south side of the cities. When the Saiyans attack, we'll be there."

Outside the door, a raven-haired girl smirked and hurried back to where the Saiyan army was waiting.

A Saiyan warrior lifted his head at the sound of running feet, "Sire, I think one of the Tuffles is coming this way." Standing beside the knelt warrior, King Vegeta smirked.

"That's no Tuffle, it's one of our females. I wanted to make sure I knew where the Tuffles were." Seeing the look of horror on the warrior's face, he chuckled, "don't worry, I usually don't approve of espionage, this is only a one time deal." Immediately the warrior relaxed. Nobody wanted a coward King, and that's all spying meant.

Soon, the whole of the army was watching the approaching girl. All except the King's original tribe, who were fully aware of who the Saiyan was, and were quite uninterested in her.

Running up the side of the hill, the girl stood straight up, and despite the speed and distance she had just completed running at, didn't pant. "They're on the south. And they aren't expecting me anymore. It's been decided amongst their leaders I am too weak to cause any harm." To this final comment, all twenty-seven of the King's old tribe snorted. The girl was strong all right. Even the newly acclaimed king found it amusing.

"Shows how much the Tuffles know. Head back to the cave Rosi, we might need your "weak" being later. But for now, it's needed in the Pre-Ring." Rosi's eyes widened. The Pre-Ring was where the Saiyan children practiced their fighting "skills". _All those screaming brats! He knows I hate them!_ (A/N: Just think of Pre-School and the great joy it would be to teach.) Rosi left, grumbling something unrecognizable, and the Saiyans advanced.

And so, the ten-year war began…

727 A.D.- the first Full Moon in eight years on Planet Plant is seen – the Saiyans begin to defeat the Tuffles

Extracts form the accounts of a Saiyan warrior in the war campsites of the country of Saiya, from the leadership of Vegeta:

_Day One thousand, eight hundred ninety-four: I must say, the queen is not someone you want to mess with. A band of Tuffles snuck up to the Pre-Ring today, and did she **ever** take them out. She's not officially queen yet, but that doesn't stop anybody from calling her that. King Vegeta has made it quite clear she will be. Nobody doubts him; he hasn't done anything worth arguing over yet. He either is a perfect strategist, or knows how to cover up whatever mistakes he makes. I'm not sure which of the two, but either way, he's a better king than Corrn, and most defiantly Celre. He's been holding back our next attack for some reason or another. Apparently Bardock told him something. I swear that boy is a fair fighter for his age, and one hec of a scientist. But we're all still skeptical of what he has planned. Everybody wants to know why we haven't attacked in three months. We're just training. The King just smirks, waves his hand, and tells us to continue training. Says we'll know why soon. Some warriors are planning a rebellion, I don't see how they plan on taking the **King** out, but that's their business, not mine._

_Day One thousand, eight hundred ninety-five: The King announced that we would be attacking next thousandth. A few dim-witted warriors like Nappa had to ask what that meant. Bardock yelled at them and told him it meant the two-thousandth day of our war. After questioning the boy when that was he got so frustrated that he stormed out of the camp and left his friend Toma to explain. We have five days, and I don't know how our attack is going to go._

The Truffle Army was awake and firing at the Saiyan warriors running about the city. The Saiyans killed more Tuffles than Tuffles killed Saiyans, but the fact of the matter being there were more ruffles than Saiyans, the Army held it's own. Firing from behind fallen buildings, the Tuffles used their weapons and the Saiyans the Saiyans stood in the open using their blasts. Orders were called out from every point in the Tuffles line, and the Saiyans simply did as they wished.

One of the warriors in the Tuffles Army sighed, as he saw he had made it through most of the night, and the Saiyans would be forced back soon. They always left before they could all be killed. Leaning against what was once a cement wall, he waited for him and his partner to be called away from the fight. But just as his wish was in the process of being granted, the Saiyans looked up at a sudden light in the sky. At once there was silence, neither army moved, it was as if no breath was being drawn from either side.

Moments passed and one of the Saiyans got a mean glint in his eyes. Slowly, like some contagious disease, the glint spread, until every Saiyan across the planet was gleaming in mischief, the moon was out, the _full_ moon was out.

Gradually, every Saiyan began growing, they became hairy, their eyes turned red, and in minutes there was an army of Saiyan Oozarus rampaging across the planet. Every city, every town, and every ruffle metroplex came crashing down. Fire blazed from their mouths, and their roars covered the piercing screams from the Tuffles as the weak race ran. They ran until they found another city, another _fallen_ city. And through the course of the night, the ruffle civilization fell.

_Day Two-thousand, seven hundred four: The Tuffles Army was finished today. They surrendered two weeks ago, but King Vegeta just let the army continue killing them and destroying their cities. Ever since that night three years ago, we've just been picking off what's left of them. Rosicheena is to become queen within the next year or so. King Vegeta's plans with the Planet Arcos have been made clear now. We are providing Arcos with a new home and they will give us the technology we need to go to other planets and fight. Nappa came back and reported that there was a man named Frieza who would pay us to conquer planets. King Vegeta and Rosicheena didn't like the idea at first, but the other leaders seem to have persuaded them into thinking otherwise. We'll begin working for Frieza in nine months._

731- King Vegeta marries Rosicheena; the Saiyans join the Planet Trading Organization

732- Prince Vegeta is born

"Congratulations, King Vegeta, I just received the news. Tell me, how is the young Prince?" Frieza's raspy voice called out. The entire palace cringed in disgust. They followed Frieza's orders, yes, but there was just something wrong with that voice.

"I think he has a really, really, really bad cold." One of the palace guards had commented just last week.

"He is fine, Lord Frieza, is there anything you would like to tell me?" Vegeta asked, he waited for Frieza to finish sipping his cup and give him an answer.

"No, except, I'm planning on sending Zarbon over. There's a little deal I'd like to make with you. It's kind of long-term, so you may want to consider it for a while before giving him your answer."

"What—." But before the King could so much as begin his sentence, Frieza was gone.

The King sighed. "What am I going to do? I had a bad feeling that joining the planet trade would cause trouble, but I can't imagine what he wants."

"Don't worry about it. Whatever it is, we'll figure something out." The king heard Rosicheena behind him. He turned to see his son sound asleep in his mother's arms. Rosicheena looked dazed, she had gotten very little sleep her first night as a mother. Her long, black hair, which was usually slightly curled, was in tangles. And everything else about her was simply untidy.

"I hope you're right, though for some reason I doubt it."

Arriving in a speeding pod, Zarbon alarmed most all of the "Saiyans" on duty. (Not all were of Saiyan blood, but, living on planet Vegeta, they were by all means, "Saiyans".) Hissing, the pod cracked open and out stepped a tall pale-green man, his long hair was untidily pulled back in a braid. It was matted and tangled from the journey, resting against a worn down chair that had seen almost the last of its days. The green-being, upon seeing the King Vegeta arriving, bowed and called to him:

"Greetings, from Lord Frieza," Vegeta responded with a quick nod of the head.

"Hello, Zarbon, what news from Lord Frieza?" the king questioned.

"No need to speak of it here sir," Zarbon replied glancing around at all of the workers who, at this gesture, began scattering about and squabbling about nothing in particular, just trying to avoid Zarbon's critical eye, "I think it would be best if we spoke of these matters _elsewhere._" Zarbon finished, returning his gaze to the king.

"Of course Zarbon, follow me, I'm sure I know of a place where we can discuss this alone."

And at that moment the king turned on his heel, headed towards the palace. Above, three stories up, two pairs of black eyes looked upon the scene, one pair in disgust, another in wonderment. Fearing their presence would be felt from the launch area, Rosicheena, and the young baby in her arms, who's fate was to be determined that day, slowly backed away.

One day before…

_His cry echoed through the halls the day he was born. I was running through the halls, the noise was heard, and all of a sudden the whole palace was grinning. Then, slowly, a celebration broke out. The young Prince was wailing the entire time, often we would stop our festivities, just to listen to that sound. He never stopped crying that whole day. The King and Queen didn't step so much as a foot outside that room, they just stayed there, listening to him cry._

_I have not heard the Prince cry since._

**A/N:** I'm not actually positive at what time in the Tuffle/Saiyan war the moon came out, but I'm guessing it was towards the end. (I'm saying the Saiyan year is 270 days; the length of an average human pregnancy, kinda like the Aztec calendar, ya know? So, it has been 1,890 days since from pt.1 of the prologue to pt.2.)

Alright, last A/n I plan on writing for this fic:

Yes, I plan on continuing it.

No, I don't know when, but rest assured, I've got the next few chapters started and going. I'll try editing the chapters later, but for now I just wanted to clean it up a little. I'm sorry that I'm being such a frusterating author to work with, but this site (the people _on_ it, not the people working for it) is driving me nuts. I plan on writing a lengthy rant one of these days.

**Thank you for being patient and for reading. It's appreciated more than you'll ever know.**


	2. Pt1

Final Act Acknowledged 

Chapter One::

Five years later…

"I never knew life could feel this good Zarbon," Frieza sipped coolly from his glass. "Isn't it just a wonderful feeling, being in the same room as a dead Saiyan?" While Frieza raised his eyebrows in question, Zarbon glanced over at the lifeless band of Saiyans. They were skewed helter-skelter across the floor; there were no particular similarities between any of them, other than their killer. Some were on their backs, others on their faces, some were letting loose blood, and a couple had died from nothing more than punches. They were all dead, all by Frieza, and that was all the similarities needed.

"Thrilling," He muttered, catching the stench.

Frieza stared long and hard at the leader, King Vegeta, before slightly tilting his head and speaking, "Dodoria, where is that blasted king's pennant?"

"One of the crew picked it up,"

"Would you please put it in a bag for me?"

Startled, Dodoria asked why.

"I think it should be a dazzling present for the young Prince, seeing as it's rightfully his and all," Frieza turned to Dodoria and smirked. The prince had _nothing_ that was rightfully his; a mere rub in the face was all was needed.

Dodoria walked through the halls of the ship, and came to a door, pushing aside one worker; he requested the broken pennant and a small bag. A nervous blue alien meekly held up the items and Dodoria snatched them up. Exiting the room, he swept, or rather trudged, (It requires a little grace to sweep, if you know what I mean) to the prince's room.

He began punching in the code, but midway through, the door opened. A little boy looked up at him and Dodoria snapped, "Where are you going? You are not to leave this room until Master Frieza orders it."

"I was letting you in so I would have to bear you 'When You Know I'm Coming, Open the Door" speech."

Dumbfounded, Dodoria asked, "How did you know I was coming?"

"It's called a scouter, and it works well," Then smirking, the cocky prince added, "Not as if your stench escapes me much either,"

"Boy! Get in there and sit down!" Vegeta obediently slipped into the room. "Where are all the lights?"

"I like the dark better than the light,"

"Well, here on Master Frieza's ship, you like what he wants, and he gave you lights for a reason." Growling, Dodoria flipped the switch, only to find that nothing came on.

"Some other guard tried the lights on, so I blasted the lights,"

"Where's the guard, he's going to need a talking to if he let you get what you wanted without informing Master Frieza."

"Try that wall," Vegeta pointed to the barely visible wall where Dodoria could just make out the insides and the stringed armor of a guard. Infuriated, he threw the bag at the prince, and stormed down the hall, calling behind his back, "That's the remains of your father in there, see that even a mighty warrior can be destroyed. It was only a meteor too! How weak the Saiyan race is!"

Hearing Dodoria's steps fade away, Vegeta cautiously opened the bag and dumped its' contents on the floor. Pieces of the emerald pennant crashed to the floor, but none broke. Vegeta bent down and began counting, doing his best to occupy his mind before he could think of what he had over heard from his parents the previous night.

Flashback…

"_Don't you dare Vegeta!"_

"_I have no choice, the deal was made five years ago!"_

"_You should never have agreed to it! I won't let you take him to that tyrant!" Queen Rosicheena raged._

"_Do not tell me how I should rule woman!" King Vegeta swept back his hand and knocked the queen to the floor. Then, unhesitant, put forth his palm, and gathered the light…_

_From behind the door, Vegeta could see and feel the force hitting his mother. The light faded, and the prince could see Queen Rosicheena strewn across the cold black tiles, there was no blood, her life had simply vanished. Backing away, Vegeta retreated to his room and quietly sat on his bed. He didn't know what to do. Seeing his mother like that, shook him, but he was too stunned and confused to be glad no one could see him visibly stuttering. Hours later, after doing his best to contemplate what had happened and why, Prince Vegeta had his thoughts interrupted when King Vegeta entered…_

"Hmmm…" King Yemma flipped through the pages of his life records book. He was getting quite tired of all these Saiyans pouring in, some of them were worthless fighters, and had their souls contained by, well, nothing, they just floated there. Those were the easiest kinds to judge, but that was a minority. The rest of the lot had managed to pull something off in their lives that left them stuck with their bodies, and stuck King Yemma with a long record. Even those these were Saiyans, King Yemma urged himself to search through everything he could find about them, you never knew really. Once a being from Planet Paz, had a very nasty record. A hidden one really, he almost didn't find anything, and wasn't searching too thoroughly, until the Grand Kai dropped in for a surprise visit. The being, Kanuqu, was now the victim of Goz and Mez. The particular Saiyan King Yemma was on now, the high-and-mighty king of the race, had a very similar case to a previous one, Bardock. They were very unusual cases, and finding a brief note on King Vegeta's record, Yemma concluded the same. "You may go, Heaven is that way." Yemma jerked a thumb behind him. "Next,"

King Yemma picked up his pen and checked Vegeta in. He looked up, expecting to see another hell-bound Saiyan, but what he did see, was a _heaven_-bound Saiyan, with an open jaw, not moving a muscle. Yemma sighed, "I said you could go Vegeta." A choking sound escaped the Saiyan's throat; Yemma leaned forward a little before telling him, "Just go, calm down, and maybe you'll figure it out." Sitting back he waved his hand, "I'm too busy to explain now, there's another Saiyan, Bardock, maybe you should try discussing this with him. Now go, I've got more of you Saiyans I've got to judge." Closing his mouth the king obeyed, and left the Check-In silently.


	3. Pt2

**Final Act Acknowledged**

_/Last Time…/_

"King Yemma picked up his pen and checked Vegeta in. He looked up, expecting to see another hell-bound Saiyan, but what he did see, was a _heaven_-bound Saiyan, with an open jaw, not moving a muscle. Yemma sighed, "I said you could go Vegeta." A choking sound escaped the Saiyan's throat; Yemma leaned forward a little before telling him, "Just go, calm down, and maybe you'll figure it out." Sitting back he waved his hand, "I'm too busy to explain now, there's another Saiyan, Bardock, maybe you should try discussing this with him. Now go, I've got more of you Saiyans I've got to judge." Closing his mouth the king obeyed, and left the Check-In silently."

"What am I doing here? I thought for sure I'd be bound for hell." King Vegeta muttered to himself. 'I killed so many people, why am I here?" The king stopped walking and looked up from his hands he had been staring at to take a look at his surroundings. The surroundings he never thought he'd see. Before him was a stone walkway, lined on all sides by yellow clouds. Up ahead there were ancient buildings, green rooftops and white walls. All around there were body-less beings squeaking and conversing in a somewhat confusing manner. One particular soul had such a high-pitched voice a piece of green glass almost struck Vegeta in the face. He quickly caught it and scowled at the floating spirit before glancing at the glass itself.

He wouldn't have cared less about the green piece until he realized it was not unlike a scouter eyepiece. It had several small wires, nearly invisible running through it to show signs. Examining closer he caught half of the symbol of the Cold Empire on the left edge.

_This might be that other Saiyan's._ Vegeta quickly looked up and began to scan the area nearby. Off the path he made out a battered green uniform behind an oak tree. The armor was shuffling along the ground as if in search of something.

Vegeta began to walk up to who he supposed was Bardock as nearing caught a few curses. Finally the Saiyan, he was most definitely a Saiyan, began to speak in sentences rather than profanity. "Where did that darned thing go? I swear, when I find that screeching bubble I'll—"

"You know you can't really do anything to it, it's already dead, besides, I scared him away already." The Saiyan turned around and the moment he realized who had spoken he bent his head and brought his knee up to a ninety degree angle to bow to his king.

"Oh, get up Bardock, I'm too fed up with this place to bother with all that," The way Vegeta spoke to him, Bardock knew he had been recognized, he sometimes wondered if the king ever remembered him. Apparently he had. Actually, Vegeta had never dared himself to forget Bardock after his invention of artificial moonlight.

Bardock obediently rose to his feet and stared his king in the eye. "You're here too?" Bardock would have rather he hadn't questioned Vegeta, it usually wasn't allowed, but then again, he was already dead and even in life had been as strong as the king. To add on top of it, Vegeta seemed to be glad to see the low level soldier.

"No, I'm actually not. You just think I'm here, but I'm really not," Vegeta sarcastically responded and Bardock looked to his feet in embarrassment. "Do you know why we're here?" Vegeta finally asked.

Bardock looked up and shook his head "no".

Vegeta growled, "That sun-burned ogre, I think I ought to go in there and fry him."

"I'd be all for that, except I hear the food's better up here?"

"Really?" Bardock nodded.

"How could you possibly know that? How long have you been here?" Vegeta stared in disbelief, at Bardock held up seven fingers.

"I died a couple of minutes earlier, you got caught up in that line." Bardock explained.

Vegeta grimaced. That line…

"So I take it we're stickin' here?"

Vegeta pondered on it for a while, better food, why not?

(31 years later…)

Goku glanced across the battlefield to see his only son on his hands and knees, blood dripping over his face.

"I love you son," with that he smiled and disappeared, Cell gone with him.

"Daaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaddyyyyyyyyy!" Gohan reached and arm out to his father but he had left, for good. He looked down, "It's all my fault, it's all my fault, Daddy, why'd you have to go? It's all my fau-ault." His throat began to choke and he weakly slammed his fist into the ground, still whimpering words to his vanished father.

King Vegeta rested his head against a tree, or, what _had been _a tree, more of ancient Roman ruins since Bardock had blasted earlier.

"Tired of sparring, huh?" Said Saiyan asked, hovering three yards above Vegeta.

"There's no purpose anymore," Vegeta responded.

"There really hasn't been for over thirty years now, king." Bardock reminded him.

"Well nonetheless, I'm bored, you'd think eternal training would be enough, but there's no one to challenge."

To that the cocky Bardock replied, "Umm… hi, Saiyan who'd be willing to kick you all the way to hell, right here." And held up his hand.

Vegeta smirked, "someone _other_ than you would be nice,"

"Someone _else_ to kick your—"

"No," Vegeta cut in. Sometimes Bardock's cocky humor annoyed him, the scientist knew very well what the problem was.

Bardock sighed, "I don't know what to tell ya, nothing goes on around here too often,"

"Too often? Nothing happens around here _period_." Vegeta growled, and rose to his feet. "C'mon low-level, let's get back to sparring," In a rush Vegeta pulled out his fist and began to fire punches at Bardock. He hit a few before Bardock got over his shock and returned fire.

Both Saiyans fought vigorously in mid-air, drawing the attention of the Grand Kai, a few miles off.

"They're at it again, Miss Kai," The old man spoke to the Kai of the East.

"Oh surely, not again," She placed her gloved hands on her waist before muttering, "It's always the northern quadrant causing trouble."

"Hm, think they'll be a bother if another tournament comes up soon, eh?"

"I don't foresee any tournaments _anytime_ soon, so I doubt I'll have to worry about them." And with that the chubby and pink lady of the East huffed off to see to her fighters.

"Oh, I don't know," Grand Kai spoke to himself, "those Saiyans are somethin' else," He shook his head and returned indoors.


	4. Pt3

Final Act Acknowledged

The sun was out, the sky was blue and the birds were a-chirping. A gentle breeze of encouragement swept over the land and all who felt it thought themselves blessed to be in attendance. It was, to put it lamely and without Shakespearian address or flourish, the perfect day. And why wouldn't it be? It was heaven after all, and perfect days tend to occur with great frequency and fervor in heaven. Or at least, that is my general understanding of the place.

The layout of the particular landscape I wish to bring to your attention happens to reside on a grand and vast planet, rich with sunshine and lush green fields. There is a long, winding and gentle river that flows through the land, with an elegant palace to the left and rolling plains of flowers and grass to the right. One light golden path swept its way perpendicular to the stream, becoming a sturdy oaken bridge for a brief segment of its body before returning to the crispness of its original banana hue. It was along this path opposite the palace that our scene takes place, near one imperious tree and far removed from most of heaven's general society.

King Vegeta gave and exasperated sigh as another dead alien flew over into what he and Bardock considered "their" training grounds.

"Go and train somewhere else!" He growled and sent an energy blast toward the unsuspecting soul. "What has gotten into these people?" He asked Bardock while watching the blue being clutch its' bottom, shriek in horror and scamper away in distress.

"No idea," the scientist responded dully, "they seem to want to train a lot more lately, that's for sure,"

"No, really?" the king mocked him, "and you call yourself a genius."

"I do," For that Bardock received yet another glare from the previous ruler of Vegeta-sei, but he only smiled back and Vegeta turned away.

"It makes me wonder… maybe we should go over and ask Pal what's going on," the king took a long look to his right. While seemingly staring out into a blue abyss, if one closely followed the ruler's eyes, they would find a miniscule dome hut, much like the yurts of Central Asia, surrounded by a rickety brown fence at the fine of the light road. This was the residence of one Pal of Akane.

The two Saiyans had met the resident of the hut while they were asking around for directions to the Grand Kai's planet about twenty-years ago. Pal had been across the room in their favorite eatery and had offered to take them to the grand grounds for no fee. At first, they were skeptical; he was an Ako from a planet they had destroyed long ago; but when no one else came forth with information (due no doubt to their strict fear of the Saiyans) they consented.

The green, beady-eyed, scaly, moldy green, all-over _ugly_ lizard had led them sullenly into a run-down shack (even poorer than his hut of current days) outside of the main city of Other World. It was here that he took out a map and marked out several points along a trail.

"I'm assuming you aren't buying tickets to the plane," he had lifted his hanging eyebrows to stare at them.

"Does it look like we have the money?" Bardock snorted back.

Pal gave a grunt and nodded, "thought so," and proceeded to stab the map with a long, scaly finger.

During the journey to the Grand Kai's planet, Pal had grown on the two Saiyans (on one particularly moist night this almost became a literal statement, but Pal had stickily removed himself before the mold from his leg had fully attached itself to Bardock's arm) and the Saiyans acknowledged him with slight more respect than most other creatures. Slight being the key word.

Once arriving on the Grand Kai's planet, Pal had been a reliable source for the two misfits. They had even come to him after their first encounter with East Kai. Pal had explained with much amusement that it was not customary in the rest of the universe to insult "fat women", especially when they ruled over an entire quadrant. It took Bardock and Vegeta a roundabout or two with the female Kai before the idea caught on, but they trusted their new friend ("Ally" being the more-favored word amongst the two) and that was the most important thing.

Bardock yawned, "Do we have to go _now? _I'm so tir—"

"Don't even say it. You're just lazy." Vegeta sniffed, "I ought to make you go by yourself,"

"Yargh," Bardock stumbled to his feet, "okay, I'm coming, let's make it quick though, understood?"

"_I'm_ giving orders,"

"Sure you are,"

Vegeta glared. "Go," he pointed stiffly in the direction of Pal's shack. The disgruntled scientist shuffled his feet slowly forward until Vegeta kicked him in the back and growled: "You know what I miss most about Vegeta-sei? The women, because I hate babysitting."

"Well you aren't exactly the easiest toddler to watch either you know,"

kick

Bardock smirked a little before speeding up to a trot. Sighing, he stopped at the gate lining the perimeter of Pal's property to wait for Vegeta to catch up. Once the king had come within a few paces of the gate Bardock bent down to the hinge and began fumbling about with the lock. The "lock" being nothing more than a chain wrapped several times around two ends of the gate; it was a very crude form of security. This is why we must ask why it took Bardock no less than five minutes of twisting and rattling the metal chain about the gate before he could open it sufficiently enough to step through to the yard.

"Phew, I still can't believe how difficult that lock is to open, can you?" Walking through into the yard Bardock glanced behind him. "King Vegeta?" There was no one there. All that lay beyond the yard was a great spread of lush green grass and a single oak in the distance.

"I can't believe it! That dirty scumbag—"

"Yes?"

Bardock froze and turned back to the shack. There, leaning in the doorway was King Vegeta, looking happier than he had in several years. Across his face, those few age-lines that he had accumulated while alive were stretched back and covered by one genuine, albeit awkward, smile.

"How'd you?"

"I walked over the gate, moron. Now c'mon in. I've been talking to Pal and he has some _very_ interesting news." At this the grin on the king's face spread even wider and he looked as if he could positively die of joy. Turning briskly around, he gave a small hop before disappearing in the dark hallway. Feeling stupid but simultaneously very curious, Bardock followed him through under the low transom, staring quizzically at his majesty's back.

The place was dark and smelled of rotten wood and it was for this reason that it was always referred to as a "shack". In truth it was a decent sized house, though the ceiling was lower than Vegeta and Bardock would have preferred. Walking into the living room at the back of the house, which was also the only room where you could find so much as a sliver of light, Pal was curled up in the corner opposite a moth-eaten floral couch. Looking distastefully at the couch, Bardock instead took to the sidewall and made inquiring glances at Pal and Vegeta.

"Well?"

Vegeta continued to grin. "Tell 'im, Pal,"

Pal's slimy face looked up at the two Saiyans as if deciding how best to relate his news. He shook his head briefly at Vegeta's joy before speaking in a raspy, reptilian voice that seemed rather unused to English, though there was no accent.

"Happy of the Seven Dwarves here has been telling me that you two have noticed that more and more people are training of late."

Bardock merely nodded. Vegeta looked slightly offended, but said nothing.

"Well —honestly I don't know how the two of you haven't heard it yet; I thought the North Kai would have gone to you first— it seems that all four Kais have gathered on the Grand Kai's planet and he has decided to hold the Other World Tournament again."

"'Other World Tournament'? I don't see what the big deal is, I haven't met anyone here who's worth fighting."

"Do you really think that the fighters around here are the best the universe has got? The Kais keep them away on their own training grounds. But _now… now_ they've all been brought to the Grand Kai's palace and are readying themselves for the tournament."

"So, that means these are _the_ greatest warriors _and they're right across the river_." Now it was Vegeta who was speaking, his face alight with the prospect of a tournament so near. This time, however, when he spoke, it wasn't to a nonplussed Bardock with a frown stretched across his features; _this_ time it was to a Bardock who was grinning in an equally childish fashion.

"That's _wonderful_," he breathed.

"I know,"

"So how do we enter?" he turned back to Pal.

"First, you need to head over to the Grand Kai's palace grounds, then, ask for the North Kai. He's the ruler of your quadrant and the only one who can enter you—if he so chooses."

"Sounds simple enough,"

"Yeah, how long until it all starts?"

"Pal says it was decided a while back that they'll be starting in a couple of days."

"Ought to head down there soon, then, huh?"

"Probably,"

While the two Saiyans were busy fantasizing about the prospects of an Other World tournament, Pal was glaring at them and coughing loudly at intervals. Finally, after growing even more agitated, he gave a very pronounced, "_ahem,_" and listened as his "friends" dropped their conversation to look at him.

"This is all very well and good and all, but it's all assuming the North Kai _wants _you to compete."

This was most certainly _not_ something the two Saiyan had thought of nor was it, in their opinion, in the least flattering. Which means, quite frankly, it was a bad idea.

"Whaddaya mean, we might not be _chosen?_" Bardock looked on incredulously at Vegeta and Pal.

"Just that," continued Pal, not sensing the danger in Vegeta's voice, or otherwise just ignoring it, "the Kais have been readying for this tournament for awhile now, I expect they've already gotten their teams picked out. That's probably who has been 'trespassing' on your training grounds these last few days: competitors in the tournament."

"Yes, but, I mean—_c'mon!_"

Pal shook his head, "I'm not saying you two aren't the best set of fighters out here,"

"You'd better not be," Bardock muttered, but low enough so that only Vegeta's keen hearing could pick it up.

"Because Lord knows you two are the best _I've_ ever seen," Pal went on oblivious to the comment, " but, you know, you might not be the most _trustworthy _of all the people in the galaxy, know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, we know what you're saying," Vegeta growled, "and if I didn't like you and if you weren't already dead I'd kill you right now."

Pal seemed unaffected; he merely shrugged, turned his back, and curled up into a ball, clearly with the intent of going back to his afternoon snooze. The Saiyans, in an unusually observant fashion, took this as their queue to go and silently left the house, making their gradual way across the grounds and to the river that separated them from the Palace Grounds.

While crossing the aforementioned bridge, several fish went streaming by in the cold, cool waters. Neither Saiyan took notice of them, and so I doubt you would either, but I happen to be rather fond of fish and think I should describe them to you. Otherwise, you should just skip the following paragraphs; after all, I'd hate to bore you with the silly prolix ramble of an author crying for her share in a quality compliment. (The fic picks up again at "The palace came to view..." but I really suggest you read my fish-paragraph. It's quite good.)

Their scales gleamed brilliantly, creating a swimming rainbow in their wake. A rather gluttonous trout even dared to try and leap out of the water. Did he make it? Do you care? No. So, for being a true reader and daring to listen to some -quality-descriptive-real- writing, here's your reward: something interesting. Maybe you'll even learn something. Did you know that canned food was invented in 1810? Kinda interesting considering that the can-opener wasn't invented for another 45 years. One of the ingredients in dynamite is a peanut. On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year. And Donkeys kill more people than plane crashes. Sorry, that was just for my own devilish amusement. You can go on reading now. For real.

The palace came into view as the pair began ascending a steep, rolling hill. Flying would have been perhaps the easiest way to approach the imposing building, but the Saiyans were determined to look powerful and radiate a "holier than thou" attitude, and in order to do so required that you didn't _fly_ as the common would have, but stride, because striding is the perfectly natural thing to do and anything else is just a fool's game.

This method was very much effective, the Saiyans noted as they came to the camp of aliens outside the palace, but it regrettably didn't help them once they realized one vital flaw in their mission. They had no idea who the North Kai was.

Vegeta felt his eye twitch slightly as he looked with deep irritation upon the sight in front of him. It seemed that a being of every color, gender, height, species and weight was walking around.

"Which one is he?" He asked Bardock, knowing the scientist had no further idea than he himself had.

"Oh, I dunno. There are four people standing over there and we know that three of them are the East, South and West Kais… that fourth one, he's got a large "NORTH KAI" symbol printed along his shirt, but he must just be a fan…"

"You are _so_ amusing." Vegeta lifted his fist and slammed it into Bardock's shoulder, sending him crashing into several other fighters and pushing the ground apart in a gigantic one-man landslide.

This, for some reason, seemed to catch several peoples' attention. The ones that emerged from beneath the rubble seemed particularly keen to look around to find out what had happened, but Vegeta seemed oblivious. He had achieved two things at once: punishing Bardock in a sufficiently embarrassing manner, and receiving a gap to open conversation with the North Kai, who was currently making his way down to the site of the "accident" with the other Kais.

"Hello,"

"What _happened?_" King Kai, mouth agape, asked in his nasal voice.

"Nothing that important. Although, I had been meaning to talk to you about this tournament."

At this, all four Kais' ears pricked up… or antennae…whatever…

"What about the tournament?" Asked East Kai, he had now stopped looking at Vegeta as a mad man and more as a potential threat to his quest for the championship.

"My man Bardock and I would like to enter and we've been told that we must do so under the North Kai's guardianship."

Immediately recognizing Vegeta's power, all three of the remaining Kais were instantly bombarding their fellow with rebukes to this proposal.

"Absolutely not!"

"They're so out of control!"

"You've already chosen your team!"

"It's too late for them to enter!"

"STOP!" King Kai hollered, and all three fell silent. "I'll be the one deciding this. They're in _my_ quadrant."

A smirk spread slowly across King Vegeta's face.

"And I say 'no.'"

The Kais got about mid-way through their second round of rebuttals before realizing what he had said, and then they just stood there, dumbfounded at what they had heard.

King Vegeta, too, was very upset. "What?"

King Kai looked wearily through his glasses at the king. He knew what he was, he knew he was Saiyan, he knew the power and the potential of his race, and he _knew_ nothing good could come of having the two Saiyans around. Although he was curious about how they had managed to avoid hell, he had heard tell of them from King Yemma years ago, King Kai had no desire for Goku to meet either one. The Kai had managed to keep the two misfits hushed up in most Other World news and gossip and he intended to keep it that way. So the poor Kai was now left with explaining himself… without letting anyone know why.

"You heard me. You're entirely too wild. I can't put you in a ring and expect the two of you to control yourselves."

"What makes you think we can't control ourselves? Why don't you rethink your decision?" asked Vegeta haughtily, though still trying to be diplomatic.

King Kai looked to his right, where Bardock was pulling himself out from under a giant mound of earth. He gazed a little bit longer at the several bruised aliens rubbing various parts of their bodies where they had been hit. And then the North Kai did a very strange thing… he said no again.

lllllll

"He said WHAT?" A mere five minutes later Vegeta found himself explaining the situation to an infuriated Bardock.

"Mm, hm, he said 'no'." Vegeta spoke curtly and with a silently seething glint flickering in his dark eye.

"Well, let's get on up there an—"

"No, Bardock, I've been thinking about it. I wanted to do just the same thing, but I think it will have a much better effect if we just stay here and let them see how poor they are without us. If we go to them we just look desperate. We stay… they lose, come crawling back to us and then we go and knock some aliens around at their little 'tournament'."

Still disgruntled, Bardock sat back down on the ground with a gloomy, "if you say so" attitude.

The two of them rested there, underneath an ever-darkening starlit sky, watching as the wind whistled through the perfectly manicured grass and listening as all noise faded into a lullaby of silence. After numbly observing the scene awhile the Saiyans decided to head back to their usual training grounds, where they planned to rest for a few days until King Kai came running back to them for their help.

llllll

"Hey King Kai!" Goku waved cheerfully down to the ground as he spotted the squat blue man making his way over.

"Hello Goku! How's your training going today?"

"Great!" Goku called as he flew gently down and touched the ground lightly. Wiping his brow and breathing heavily from his long workout, Goku sat down and drank some water while listening to King Kai's morning recount of the day's events.

"So I said, I said—ho ho! You're going to love this! —I said—"

"Hey King Kai," Goku asked suddenly.

"What?" King Kai looked slightly disappointed that Goku wasn't interested in his story, but was bent on answering anyway.

"What happened down there?" Goku nodded in the direction he had been staring for the last few minutes, a small dip between two hills where the ground had been turned up and the side of a building was crumbling. There were a few small workers bustling about the area carrying rocks, apparently trying to restore the place.

"Oh, uh, that happened yesterday. Just a small confrontation between a couple of fighters. They've left now."

"Oh. Okay, so—what were you saying King Kai?" Goku turned his back to the scene and waited for the story to start up again.

"Oh, right well, I told him, I said…"

lllllll

Bardock lay back on the ground, lazily twirling a long blade of grass between his fingers. It was high noon and the sun was beating down heavily upon the two Saiyan's bodies. Above them, a crisp blue sky provided a vibrant backdrop to for the rolling cotton clouds drifting listlessly along in the wind.

"How much longer do we have to wait here?" asked Bardock impatiently.

"Probably not much longer, the tournament starts today." Vegeta didn't bother to mask the irritation in his voice.

Five minutes later, Bardock growled out his resolution, "if this doesn't work I'm storming right on over there and blowing them all up anyway."

"You won't have a chance, I'll get to them before you do,"

Bardock smirked, "you wanna head over right now?"

"Sounds good to me," With their destructive impulses throbbing with newfound enthusiasm, they lifted themselves off the ground and were just beginning to take off when, hobbling down the golden path behind them, came the reptilian likeness of Pal, who looked rather like his skin hadn't seen daylight in decades… which it probably hadn't, let's don't be kidding ourselves now.

"Hey! Bardock! King Vegeta!" He rasped, and made what seemed to be an effort to speed up, although no difference in speed was noticeably achieved.

Looking wearily back, the two caught a brief glance of one another before simultaneously deciding to postpone their dramatic reenactment of Pearl Harbor, a la Saiya style.

"What is it, Pal?"

"I was just curious," Pal said, nearing them as he spoke, "which one of you two won it."

"Won what?" Bardock asked dumbly.

"Won what? The _tournament_. I've been down in the village all day, and all anyone's been talking about is the Saiyan who won the Grand Kai's Tournament… So… who was it?" Pal looked eagerly at his two "friends".

It took a few moments for either of them to react. All that seemed to register in their minds was that a Saiyan had one… and neither of them had been there…

Finally, the words came, "are you sure it was a Saiyan that won?"

Pal seemed taken aback by this inquiry; it certainly hadn't been what he had been expecting. "Yes, the North Kai himself came down and bragged for a little bit. Except, he called his fighter 'Goku'… I figured it was just some pseudonym…"

Ruler and scientist shook their heads. "We weren't even there."

"So… neither of you…"

Again, a negative.

Nothing happened on either side of the conversation for several moments.

"Do you know anything else about this 'other Saiyan'?"

"Nothing," now that Pal knew it wasn't any one of his friends, he was trying to help, realizing the roles had switched and it was he who now held the most information, "I heard someone say he had left the palace grounds, that's why I assumed I could find you guys here."

"Where did he go?" Vegeta asked earnestly.

"No idea. He just left." Pal replied.

Vegeta's temper flared to a state that it hadn't been at for many years. This Saiyan—this subject of his— had gone and no one knew where to. Well then, he decided, they were just going to have to do something about that.

"Bardock, we're going."

END PT 3.


	5. Pt4

_Vegeta's temper flared to a state that it hadn't been at for many years. This Saiyan—this subject of his— had gone and no one knew where to. Well then, he decided, they were just going to have to do something about that._

"_Bardock, we're going."_

**Final Act Acknowledged**

Chapter Five:

They'd trekked for two years before finally navigating themselves successfully through to King Emna's palace. And those two years had been preceded by what could only be described as five years of mindless wandering. At first, it had seemed to them that it would be simple to find the lone Saiyan. Afterall, the two of them kinda stood out. Saiyans were anomalies in heaven.

But so are needles in haystacks.

And eventually the brilliant idea occurred to both of them (or one of them, but neither was willing to admit it was the other to develop this time-saving scheme), that King Emna would have records of all the souls currently residing in heaven and could easily look up the name, date of death and possibly residence of said individual. And perhaps, the Lord could even summon the vagabond should they ask politely (or threaten fiercely?) enough. Twas brilliant.

And now that they could see King Emna's palace growing in the distance, they finally found that they could stop their bickering (temporarily) and forget their hunger (also temporarily) in the eager pursuit for that simple green roof and those yellow walls.

"Kami! If I have to climb ­_one more step_,"

"Yes, remind me again why we're not flying," King Vegeta replied dully.

"Something about respect for royalty. I dunno, ask the guard down there. _He's _the prick making us do this, anyway!" Bardock complained as he heaved a heavilty weighted foot up another incline. Just below him, his companion cast a suspicious gaze around in all directions before letting loose a small ki ball, just next to the old guard's foot. He gave a restrained and slightly crazed chuckle as the elderly demon jumped to life and began waving the flames out.

"Are you quite done?" The king looked up what was now almost an entire flight of stairs where his subject was waiting for him at the top.

"Just thought I'd have a little fun," he quipped, and, with great dignity, strutted up the rest of the steps.

At the top of their climb they were greeted by a not-so grandiose entrance as the one they had entered so many years ago, but that made perfect sense as they were using the back door. One look at the line swirling around the base at the front of the Check-In Center was enough to convince King Vegeta that the back-door approach was more reasonable. After all, if you'd been hiking around the Other World for seven years you'd be impatient too. So, keeping in mind that they really oughtn't be seen, the two Saiyans crept stealthily into the building and tip-toed through the hallways, following the noise to the busiest room.

When they first walked in, a wave of déjà-vu washed over them. The place was exactly as they remembered it. Blood-red walls with gleaming gold trim. A handsome desk loomed over each bubbly newcomer, presided over by a not-nearly-so-handsome red demon. Tiny blue men scampered about frantically, waving papers this way and that, running into each other and occasionally walls as well, shouting names, dates and profanities every which way. It was into this madness that Bardock and his King stepped, and placed themselves squarely in front of the Enma's desk, much as they had all those years ago.

King Enma glanced curiously over his spectacles at them, "yes?" he querried.

"We were, erm, just wondering, uh, lessee, how do you say--?"

"Where in the hell is my subject?" the kind growled.

"Yes, that,"

"What?"

"My subject! A Saiyan has been living in Other World and competed in a tournament. Who and where is he?"

Enma stared blankly at the king for a few moments before laughing aloud. His deep chuckles nearly shook the tile off the roof and a few of his assistants held on tightly to the furniture to keep from falling down. In front of the house-sized desk King Vegeta clinched his fists. He did _not_ like being laughed at.

"What is the meaning of this? You laugh at me?"

"No, no no, dear king," Enma reassured him, waving his hand idly. "You must excuse me, you see, I'd forgotten all about you and um---" he examined Bardock.

"Bardock," he supplied.

"Yes, yes, _Bardock_."

"What do you mean, 'you'd forgotten'?" he was very cross now.

"Well, if I'd remembered you, I would have already told Goku that you were here."

"Go-ku?" the king repeated tentatively. That didn't sound like a Saiyan name.

"Yes, Goku, he has a Saiyan name, but, oh, I forget it. And it's a pity. He always seems to be dying and yet, at this very moment he's back in the land of the living now. So sorry," there were several things about that sentence that bothered the Saiyan king, the least of which was the fact that this Saiyan _seemed_ to have died multiple times—was there something wrong with his hearing? He stuck a finger in his ear and tried to clean it out, but it all seemed normal.

Enma chuckled again, "you'll just have to wait, King Vegeta, if you wish to see him. I'm afraid there are no other Saiyans residing on this side of the afterlife, for now."

"But… how did he get _back_?" Bardock piped up, managing to voice the very question plaguing his sovereign.

"Well, let's just say, he knows the right people," behind him, someone snorted, "and ah," Enma blushed, "there's a bit of an emergency right now."

"Emergency?" Bardock sounded like he was losing his voice.

"Yes, emergency. Ah! Kakarot! That was it! So there you go, now, go along! shoo! Shoo!"

That was it. The straw that broke the camel's back. The last time he had met the Lord of the Afterlife, King Enma had been less than helpful, and now to be so disrespected… King Vegeta's temper skyrocketed.

"Now listen up you great-horned-bufoon--!" Vegeta shouted.

"I SAID—_OUT_!" Enma roared, and the two Saiyans struggled to look like they hadn't jumped out of their skins. Immediately, they were shoved to the side as a new wave of bobbing blue souls was escorted in and the chatter and chaos of the Check-In room resumed.

Bardock examined the room in disbelief. His son. _His_ son was alive. It was almost too much. No doubt the king didn't realize it yet, but—

"Psst… Bardock!" the king hissed conspiratorially.

"Huh?" said Saiyan looked around frantically, but had trouble locating his hidden king in the corner behind the drapery.

"Are you… playing hide-and-seek?" he took a stab in the dark as he approached the dignitary with the caution one would grant a mentally unstable grandfather.

"Yes, Bardock, I thought it'd be great fun to have a little game of tag while we waited,"

"Oh good, 'cause I thought you'd gone crazy or something," Bardock replied sarcastically as King Vegeta swung his arm out and grabbed his subject, dragging him behind the red velvet curtain with him.

"What exactly are we doing?" Bardock asked.

"Watching. If there's a way out of here, we're going to figure it out,"

That seemed like a very dramatic statement, and Bardock paused to the appropriate effect, but after watching fifty-two souls pass through uneventfully, he was beginning to wonder how long they'd have to wait. The only exciting bit of the whole day occurred when an errand-demon and his team ran in frantically waving about thousands of papers and whining about booze. A lot of booze. Too many booze, or something like that.

"Does that planet have a drinking problem, or what?" he asked, but his companion didn't seem to be in the mood for comraderie, so he shut it up and stared dully at the wall, trying to think of a way _out_ of heaven.

All day long all anyone ever worried about in that silly room was booze. Booze cropping up here and there, changing and transforming booze, booze that consumed other booze and other such nonsense when an elderly woman with bubble-gum hair floated in on a crystal ball.

"Emna, there's no more waiting! You need to send someone to help Goku and Gohan against Buu,"

"But _who_? There's no one in other world strong enough—"

"There is _one _person," the old lady cackled. King Enma looked puzzled and slightly afraid, "I believe you remember the prince."

Behind the curtain, Bardock and King Vegeta's heads shot up as a man with a very familiar hairstyle came smirking into the room.

**A/n: **Here's the short end of my explanation: time passes differently in Other World, which is why all of this is going by so fast. Suck it up and deal with it, I'm tired of going slowly, and I want to get to the meat of this story. I figured everyone could appreciate that.

I am extremely sorry about the long wait. I hope you'll forgive me. As other reader's of mine often discover, I am much more considerate about how often and how long updates should be when I get warm-fuzzies: so please review!

**Afrodite-** You are _amazing! _Thank you for your wonderful reviews. You can take all the credit for this update.


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